Liaoning History

Liaoning has inherited and preserved the best elements of the brilliant Chinese civilization, and it has been one of the most glorious cantons in the long history of China.

To say the least, Liaoning enjoys a long reach into history, because the ancestors of Liaoning have lived in this area as early as the Paleolithic Age. For example, the prehistoric man pithecanthrope skull fossils of unearthed in Taurus Mountain in the city of Yingkou already have a history of more than 280,000 years, making the area the most antiquated human habitat so far discovered in Liaoning.

As well, the large number of stone implements unearthed in Dove Cavity in the city of Zhaoyang in Hazuo County can be traced back to the late years of the Paleolithic Age, also known as the Neolithic Age. Based on such research, it is understood that the ancestors of the Liaoning people had been able to make polished stone tools and potteries, and as a result, ancient agriculture and stock raising industries had began to take shape.

The site of the Red Mountain Ancient Cultural Relics unearthed in Niuheliang, the joint area of Lingyuan city and Jianchang county, indicates that more than 5,000 years ago there had existed a primitive society of civilizations. It had taken a rudimentary form of a state, and it marked the beginning and early development of the Chinese nation’s 5,000 years of civilization. In the 16th century B.C., Liaoning belonged to Bangji of the Shang Dynasty, while in the Spring and Autumn/Warring States Periods (723 B.C.-221 B.C.), it belonged to the kingdom of Yan. Since then, all the feudal dynasties have set up administrative organizations in Liaoning.

Perhaps most proudly, Liaoning Province is the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty—the last feudal and royal society in China. To this day, 1 palace and 3 mausoleums—the Shenyang Imperial Palace and the Yong Mausoleum in Xinbin (where the ancestor of Nuerhachi was buried), the Fu Mausoleum (where Nuerhachi was buried), and the Zhao Mausoleum (where the Qing Taizu Emperor, son of Nuerhachi, was buried)—are still well preserved.